Review

What the *** were Morbid Angel thinking with their ninth studio album Illud Divinum Insanus? Coming off the back of highly criticized album Heretic, this was released in 2011 and absolutely alienated what small portion of the band's fan base that still had faith left in the band. But wait, this is Morbid Angel we are talking about. Yeah, the band that released Altars Of Madness, Blessed Are The Sick, Covenant and Domination-four absolutely essential death metal albums that have influenced countless bands since their release. What exactly could the band have done so wrong on Illud Divinum Insanus?

Well, first, this is not even a death metal album. This is an industrial album with elements of electronic music that occasionally showcases the band's older death metal side. What fans of this band are looking at here is an album that sounds like the retarded love child of Marilyn Manson, Rammstein, Fear Factory and every other successful industrial artist one can think of without half of the conviction. The songs lack any real creativity, with predictable song structures all the way throughout, and remember the amazingly varied riffs they brought to the table on their earlier albums? Well scrap that, Morbid Angel don't need any enjoyable, catchy riffs with some complex moments in their music, they are quite happy to reduce their guitar work to primarily open strings and crazily simplified lines. Blades For Baal and Existo Vulgore showcase the return to the blast beats the band were renowned for on their earliest material, but aside from that the drumming is pedestrian and dull for most of this, but this is better than the bass still, as the bass has NO good sections whatsoever.

One thing I noticed whilst listening to the first proper track, Too Extreme, is that David Vincent now sounds like a retarded cousin of David Draiman with a slightly deeper voice. Yes, you just read that correctly, the man who once sounded like a demon full of malice now sounds like that retard from Disturbed made famous by the "oo-wah-ah-ah-ah" shouts. You should already be slapping your forehead in frustration and casting aside any doubts that this is an absolute *** fest. Need more convincing? Radikult. I don't know whose stupid idea it was to name a song Radikult, but whoever it is is guilty of perhaps the worst crime in the music industry outside of Justin Bieber. The song itself is even worse. The bass intro should turn you off straight away, the dance beats definitely will and the bloody vocals and riffs are perhaps the worst thing on the album (and that means quite a bit). Why are there clean vocals on a Morbid Angel album? Why are there beats that wouldn't sound out of place in a 90's night club? Why wasn't this idea terminated upon inception?

Illud Divinum Insanus is three words that you should not consider uttering again. Much like Beetlejuice, it only takes three words to summon a demon, and the demon that is summoned upon mentioning this "album's" (more like joke) title is the memory of the worst idea ever to be conceived by a death metal band. You thought you'd heard the worst metal had to produce with St. Anger? Or perhaps LuLu? Give Radikult or Too Extreme ten seconds of your time and you will be leaving shaking like a Parkinsons victim.